Ingredient Myths

There are a number of mistruths about ingredients out there. We'll discuss a few here.

If you can't read the ingredient, it's probably bad for you.

All European made personal care products require ingredient labels that conform to the INCI standard. This standard requires that the ingredients be listed using their scientific name. For example, water is listed as AQUA, jojoba is listed as SIMMONDSIA CHINENSIS. So based on this myth, one would assume simmondia chinensis was a synthetic ingredient.

If there are too many ingredients, it's probably not natural.

There are a number of different personal care products one can make at home with a few simple everyday ingredients. However, most lack the richness and sophistication of a commercially made cosmetic. Instead, they are often gritty, or granola and have poor performance To produce a sophisticated but green beauty product that can hold its own against other top brands, numerous ingredients are utilized.

If it says "fragrance", its synthetic.

The INCI ingredient labeling standard applied to European beauty products require that any product with a "scent" be labeled "Fragrance", "Perfume" or "Parfum". This applies whether or not that scent is from all natural essential oils, or from synthetic fragrances. All cosmetic products should be free of synthetic fragrances.

Organic/Natural products are gritty and granola, and don't perform.

This is the same issue as Myth #2. To achieve the basic functionality, a self tanner can be made with tea, lanolin and sesame oil. However, that product would lack the richness of texture, aromatic scent and performance when compared against organic self-tanners—t would appear rather "granola".

It says Certified Organic so it must be all natural and good for you.

As a rule of thumb, Certified Organic and Certified Natural do not instantly mean something is good for you. Certified Organic crops in many areas may be GMO contaminated. A natural ingredient may still be harmful or at least still be an irritant for your skin. Certain essential oils, organic or not, in large doses are not good either.